19 Ways To Get A Great Workout Even If Your Gym Is Sketchy AF
You don’t need a 5-star gym to get a 5-star workout.
So, your gym situation kind of sucks.
There are plenty of reasons why you might be stuck with a gym that's lacking equipment, too crowded, or just downright sketchy. Maybe you're on a tight budget, you live super far from a city, or you're stuck in a dorm or hotel for the time being.
In any case, just because your gym kind of sucks doesn't mean your workout has to suck, too. We reached out to fitness experts Rob Sulaver of Bandana Training and Jessi Kneeland of ReModel Fitness to find out how you can get an incredible workout — even when the equipment you need is taken, broken, limited, or even just gross.
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Do your warm-up before you get to the gym.
If trying to find mat space at your gym to warm-up is basically like the Hunger Games, just get it out of the way before you go. Here are some good dynamic stretches you can do pretty much anywhere.
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Run, bike, or walk to the gym to get some extra cardio in.
Saves time and the annoyance of trying to fight people for that one open treadmill.
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Learn a bunch of bodyweight movements so you can do them when all the weight machines are inevitably taken/broken.
Find tutorials for these moves here and use the interactive tool on BodyBuilding.com to browse by muscle group.
"You should also become familiar with the five major movement patterns and the variations of each: squat, push (push-ups, bench press), pull (chin-ups, rows), hinge (deadlifts), and core stabilizers (planks, chops)," Kneeland says. Once you have these down, the possibilities are endless and you won't have to rely on equipment and weight machines to get an effective strength training workout. You can also adjust these or modify the moves according to what feels good and works for you.
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